Kristian Williams

In These Times recently hosted a discussion on police brutality, the Ferguson riots, and the possibilities — and limits — of police reform.  I took part, alongside Frank Chapman, an organizer with the National Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression, Frederick Collins, a Chicago cop and mayoral candidate, and Jessica Stites, ITT‘s web editor and facilitator for the conversation.

The ITT piece follows a similar discussion I was part of on the Marc Steiner Show, and an interview I did with KBOO, both last month.

I gave a couple of interviews on the recent events in Ferguson, and the myriad issues it raised: police violence, racial profiling, zero-tolerance policing, militarization, crowd control, and the various forms resistance can take.

The first was a roundtable discussion on the Marc Steiner Show in Baltimore.  The other guests were a retired cop and a community activist.  The conversation didn’t go the way I expected, in part because no one tried to defend the police, and in part because I was outflanked from the left.

The second was a one-on-one interview with KBOO’s Bill Resnick in Portland.  Among other things we talked about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s essay in Time, “The Coming Race War Won’t be about Race.”  The interview is titled “Our Enemies in Ferguson,” which I think is pretty clever.

I turned 40 this year, so to get my revenge against time I wrote an essay about adolescence and a short story about middle-aged punks.

The first looks at the superhero tropes in Donnie Darko and The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and considers how they relate to psychosis as well as normal teenage angst.  It ran at The Hooded Utilitarian.

The second is a dialogue about aging and authenticity.  You can find it at Verbicide.com.

I have an article in the latest issue, №27, of Perspectives on Anarchist Theory.  The issue is organized around the theme of strategy and, in it, I discuss the question of leadership, drawing mostly from Orwell’s observations about the Spanish militias.

The journal isn’t online, but if you are in Portland, you can get a copy at the release party on Tuesday August 19.  It’s from 6-8pm at People’s Co-op.  Two of the contributors and one of the editors will be speaking.  The full description (from the IAS site) is below.

Strategy:  A Perspectives on Anarchist Theory Event
hosted by the Institute for Anarchist Studies (IAS)

Portland, OR – July 28th, 2014 – Perspectives on Anarchist Theory journal, which has been publishing for over seventeen years and is produced here in Portland, is proud to present an evening with noted scholars and activists Walidah Imarisha, Tamara Lynne, and Lara Messersmith-Glavin. The theme of the evening is ‘strategy’ and will be held at People’s Coop (3029 SE 21st Ave) in the community room on Tuesday, August 19th from 6 – 8 pm.

The evenings featured speakers are:
Walidah Imarisha, speaking on “Sci Fi and Strategy.” Walidah will discuss the ways that visionary science fiction helps us dream up new worlds and create the strategies to bring them into existence.  Walidah is the co-editor of the forthcoming Ocatvia’s Brood:  Science Fiction Stories From Social Justice Movements and is one half of the poetry duo Good Sista/Bad Sista in addition to her organizing work.

Tamara Lynnne, speaking on “Theatre of the Oppressed: Strategies of Transgression,” for which she reflects on her time in India, her work with Theatre of the Oppressed organizers there and lessons for organizing work here at home.  Tamara will draw from her essay “Theatre and the Art of Transgression:  Unlearning the Rules of Engagement” featured in the current issue of Perspectives (No. 27, 2014)

Lara Messersmith-Glavin will introduce the work of the Institute for Anarchist Studies, and the journal Perspectives on Anarchist Theory and will host the event.  Lara is a co-editor of the recent book Life During Wartime: Resisting Counterinsurgency (AK Press: 2013)

The last few issues of Perspectives will be available, including the new Strategy issue, the Care issue, the Movements issue, and the Politics of Climate Change issue.  Also available will be several of the books in the Anarchist Interventions book series co-published with AK Press, including Maia Ramnath’s Decolonizing Anarchism, Harsha Walia’s Undoing Border Imperialism, and Javier Castro’s Imperiled Life:  Revolution Against Climate Catastrophe.

$5 to 25 sliding scale donation, no one turned away for lack of funds.